Thermal and mechanical properties of wood flour/talc-filled polylactic acid composites: Effect of filler content and coupling treatment

Wood flour (WF) and talc-filled polylactic acid (PLA) composites are prepared by melt compounding and injection molding. The effects of filler loading and silane treatment, the thermal and mechanical properties of the composites are studied. Loading of WF and WF/talc mixture into neat PLA results in a small decrease in the glass transition and crystalline temperatures of the composites. The use of WF, talc and silane in the composites causes successively larger decreased in the composite crystallinity. The addition of talc and silane to PLA/WF composites improved the tensile modulus. The tensile strength of the composites decreases slightly with the addition of talc, but it considerably improves with the use of 1 wt% silane. Morphological analysis shows improved interfacial bonding with silane treatment for the composites.